New Member Intro

[James Grant]

Good Afternoon Folks:

We recently purchased a 1982 36' DC Classic - we picked her up in Holland MI from one of your fellow members after finding her through Yacht world.

This would be our first boat after renting a 30' steel behemoth for a week in the Rideau Canal 5 yrs ago. We were bitten after that trip and became marina rats checking out all manner of boats until we were invited aboard a 30' Sealord DC. After that it was get a hold of every bit of written material possible pertaining to cruisers - of which there is a disproportion with sail boats (but I read them anyway) still wondering why that is.

We chose to pilot our new purchase back ourselves rather than remove the fly-bridge and truck her back - that seemed a little too invasive for us and really didn't want to damage her.
Our first trip was 800 + miles 45 locks and swing bridges - a marine rail road, two lift locks a ton of weeds - 6 foot waves - 4hrs of fog - a sudden squall with horrendous wind .. plus two days of dead calm that allowed us to see our wake for 8 miles and one dead head... it was a fabulous adventure !!!
We learned that we have no issues living together, have plenty of space, and learned to conserve water and of course enjoy that well deserved sun downer - some days more deserved than others. We met great marina folks and boaters and found we are more in love with the whole cruising life than we ever dreamed we'd be.

We have a ton of work to do, a ton of learning about all the mechanics and maintenance and in a year an half from now I am eligible for retirement and we plan on heading out for a loop or two - we've seen a little bit of it and that was just a taster. We are thirsting for more ... have a great day

[JFOkie]

Congratulations on your purchase! Sounds like you had a great voyage, with a lot more to come! It's just the beginning..........;o)

[jcollins]

Wow. First boat? That's an amazing shake-down cruise. I don't think I went more than a couple of miles on my first boat. Congratulations and welcome to Albin Owners Group.

[RobS]

Wow. First boat? That's an amazing shake-down cruise. I don't think I went more than a couple of miles on my first boat. Congratulations and welcome to Albin Owners Group.

Yes, impressive first boat and impressive of you to make that cruise.

The instructions on my first shake-down cruise were from my mother, "only go as far as we can see you."

[James Grant]

Hi There - well I'm not sure if impressive would be how I would describe it myself, possibly naive or bordering on stupid. I've fished all my life and have been around maps and charts as well and had a good handle on the theory around boat handling. Lots of experience with small boats. But putting these all into practice is another thing all together. The biggest issues were around weather and the relationship of wind to wave. Comprehending what a 15 k wind can produce for wave height and how much the boat could reasonably handle or what we could handle ourselves. How fast a squall moves, at one point I watched a storm south of us moving at what seemed like 50 mph across the north channel, it was incredible. One other thing that was an eye opener was the wave anomalies created by points, one in particular being little Sable point in MI , folks said either you can't get to it or you can't get around it. We made a late afternoon attempt and had to turn back and wait two days for calm seas it was a bear ... but all part of the learning process. Have to say the boat is very stable , I'm very pleased with the choice we made. However it's the rest of it I'll be learning now. Maintenance there are a lot of parts I've never seen and choices, cover the deck, or keep it original, stain the rails or oil ... all of which have consequences and possible rework.
But bottom line is this is a great site and I see a wealth of knowledge to help us with our dream...
thanks
Grant